Locking device for mouldings



arch H4, 1967 w. VAN DER SLUYS ETAL 3,399,122

LOCKING DEVICE FOR MOULDINGS Filed Jan. 4, 1965 United States Patent3,309,122 LOCKING DEVICE FOR MOULDINGS William Van Der Sluys, Homewood,and Alexander Traslra, Chicago, Ill., assignors to Pullman Incorporated,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 4, 1965, Ser. No.422,895 9 Claims. (Cl. 287-18936) The present invention relatesgenerally to an improvement in the attachment of interior finish panelsto the supporting structure of a wall in a vehicle, particularly inrailway cars. More specifically, the present invention is directed to alocking device for securing the end portions of resilient panel mountingmouldings to the supporting structure.

The mouldings referred to have means for resiliently interconnecting themarginal edge portions of adjacent interior finish panels as well asmeans for mounting the panels to the supporting structure. Thesemouldings form the subject matter of US. Patent No. 2,925,050, datedFeb. 16, 1960. In the patent the mouldings are employed only at thehorizontal joints between the panels, these joints being spaced aboveand below the windows provided in the wall of the car. The verticaljoints between adjacent panels are butt type having a vertical back-upstrip which overlaps the rear faces of the abutting vertical edges ofeach of the panels and the panels are secured to the strip by means ofscrews having exposed heads.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means for employingresilient mouldings for mounting the interior finish panels of a vehiclewall wherein the panels, being rectangular shape, are disposed inparallel rows vertically and horizontally and the mouldings extend alongthe vertical as well as along the horizontal edges of adjacent panels.

A more specific object is to provide locking devices for securing theend portions of the mouldings described in the foregoing object, themouldings terminating at each intersecting point of the vertical andhorizontal mouldings with the end surfaces of the mouldings forming anopen four-sided moulding joint and one of the locking devices beingprovided at each such joint.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are attained by thearrangement illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary interior elevational view of the side wall of arailway car incorporating the locking device of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1(a horizontal sectional view taken on line 2A2A of FIG. 1 would besubstantially identical as hereinafter described); FIG. 3 is an enlargedfragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1; FIG. 4is an enlarged plan view of the locking device of this invention takenon the back side of the device; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the locking device of this inventionalso taken on the back side of the device.

In the drawings, represents the side wall of a railway car comprising aside frame or outer wall supporting structure 11 including a pluralityof vertical members or posts 12 and outer side sheets 13, the posts 12being spaced at intervals longitudinally of the wall. Although not shownin the drawings, the construction of the side frame employs the usuallongitudinally extending members including a lower side sill and anupper side plate and vertical posts 12 extend continuously in one piecebetween these members. Disposed in spaced relation between the side silland side plateare horizontal members 14 which extend in sections betweenthe posts 12 and are secured thereto on respectively opposite sidesthereof as indicated by numeral 15 in FIG. 3. The main portion ofvertical member 12 shown in FIG. 3 is intended to be hat-shaped insection the same as horizontal member 14 shown in FIG. 2. In thisconnection it is obvious that various sectional shapes could be used formembers 12 and 14. For example, =channel-shaped or Z-shaped sectionscould be used in place of the hat-shaped section shown in the drawings.

The inner portions of members 12 and 14 are formed to providerespectively identical undercut type grooves 16 and 17. These groovesextend longitudinally for the full length of the respective members. Asshown, the grooves are formed as an integral part of the completesection. However, the hat-shaped portion and the groove portion of themembers could be fabricated as separate parts with the two elementswelded, riveted or bolted together, to provide a complete membersubstantially similar in form to members 12 and 14 as shown in thedrawings. As illustrated, grooves 16 and 17 are generally rectangularshape in cross section each having spaced side walls 19 and oppositeinwardly directed flanges 20, the flanges being spaced inwardly from theinner flange portion of the hat-shaped portion of the member and theinner edges of the flanges 20 being spaced to form the sides of grooveslot 18. From the foregoing it can be seen that the slot 18 incombination with the wider portion of the groove defined by the sidewalls 19, forms undercut type grooves 16 and 17 extending along theinterior sides of members 12 and 14 respectively. The inside surfaces ofthe side walls 19 and the flanges 20 form angularly related holdingmeans for the resilient panel mounting mouldings 21 and the lockingdevice 22 of this invention as hereinafter more fully described.

As noted above, under the description of FIG. 2, a horizontal sectionalview taken on line 2A2A of FIG. 1 would be substantially the same as thevertical sectional view taken on line 22 which is shown in FIG. 2. Asdescribed above, horizontal members 14 and vertical members 12 areidentical with respect to shape and size; therefore, horizontal member14 shown in FIG. 2 would represent vertical member 12 in the horizontalsectional view taken on line 2A2A and vertical member 12 shown in FIG. 2would represent sections of horizontal member 14 with the ends of thesections butting against and being secured to the respective oppositesides of vertical member 12 as shown at 15 in FIG. 3. 1.

FIG. 1 shows fragmentary corner portions of interior finish panels 23,24 and 25, window supporting frame 26, window unit 28 and windowmounting means 27. No further description is deemed necessary withrespect to the window frame 26, mounting means 27 and unit 28 sincethese elements could be replaced by an interior finish panel similar tothe other three disclosed in FIG. 1 and such a panel would be suflicientfor the disclosure of the locking device of this invention. As shown,the panels are disposed in parallel rows vertically and horizontallywith the vertical and horizontal edges of adjacent panels in spacedrelation to each other as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The adjacent verticaland horizontal edges of adjacent panels are interconnected with oneanother and mounted to the vertical 12 and horizontal 14 members of thewall structure 11 by mouldings 21. These mouldings 21 are formed ofresilient material and extend continuously along the vertical andhorizontal marginal edges of the panels. As shown in FIG. 2, themouldings 21 are formed with a body portion 29 which is in the shape ofan arrowhead compressibly received within the undercut grooves 16 and17, whereby the mouldings are held in position with the vertical 12 andhorizontal 14 members of the wall supporting structure 11. The portionof the mouldings disposed outside of the grooves 16 and 17 is formedwith an outside or exposed surface 3! which is curved in cross sectionand is provided with oppositely directed pairs of flexible lips orfingers 31 which, as shown, converge toward one another in an outwarddirection to grip the marginal edge portions of the adjacent finishpanels, for example, panels 23 and 24, panels 24 and 25, etc. Thus itcan be seen that adjacent interior finish panels are interconnected withone another and mounted to the wall supporting structure 11 by theresilient mouldings 21, the mouldings extending along the vertical andhorizontal joints of the panels and the joints being dispose-d adjacentto the vertical 12 and horizontal 14 members of the wall supportingstructure 11.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the vertical and horizontal mouldings 21terminate at their intersecting points which points coincide in planwith the intersecting points of the vertical 12 and horizontal 14members of the wall supporting structure 11. The end surfaces 32 of thevertical mouldings, as shown, are in alignment with the respectivelyopposite sides of the horizontal mouldings and the end surfaces 33 ofthe horizontal mouldings are in alignment with the respectively oppositesides of vertical mouldings. Thus the end surfaces 32 and 33 form anopen four-sided moulding joint at each intersecting point of thevertical and horizontal mouldings or, as indicated above, at eachintersecting point of the grooves 16 and 17 of the vertical 12 andhorizontal 14 members. The above moulding joint might be referred to asa four-way moulding join since the mouldings extend radially in fourdirections from the central intersecting point of the mouldings, theadjacent mouldings being in right angular relation to one another.

As previously noted, the locking device of this invention is generallydesignated by the numeral 22. One of these devices is provided at eachfour-way moulding joint as shown in FIG. 1. The device comprises a coverpiece 34 and a latch piece 37 which are made of a non-metallic materialsuch as nylon and are molded to shape as indicated. Also included withthe device is a metallic screw bolt 40 which has a head portion at oneend, the head being equipped with a hexagonal recess 41 for engagementwith a hand tool or screwdriver for rotating the bolt. At the centralportion or hub of the cover 34 is a recess 35 and a circular aperture 43is provided in the bottom portion of the recess. As shown in FIG. 3, thebody portion of screw bolt 40 extends through aperture 43 and isrotatable therein. The head of bolt 40 is rorotatably disposed withinthe recess 35. Projecting radially outwardly from the hub of the cover34 are four arms or leaves 36. As shown, the arms are in vertical andhorizontal alignment with the mouldings and are formed transversely tocorrespond with the cross sectional contour of the exposed surfaces 30of the mouldings. Also the arms extend outwardly sufficiently to overlapthe marginal end portions of the mouldings as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.Thus the cover 34 having right angularly related arms 36 can be said tobe cruciform shape in plan or in elevation when the cover is secured inplace on the wall. It should be noted that While the moulding surfaces38, as shown, are curved in shape, they could be formed to other shapesin which case the arms 36 of the cover would be formed accordingly. Ribs43 disposed on the underside of the cover 34 are for reinforcingpurposes only.

The latch piece 37 comprises a circular tube or lug portion 38 and alatch bar 39, the tube being centrally disposed on the bar and in normalrelation therewith, as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the latchbar 39 is generally parallelogram shape in plan having end surface 42defining diagonally opposite angles of about 45 with the respectivelyopposite sides of the bar. The tube is internally threaded forengagement with the threads of the screw bolt 40. It should be notedthat the nonmetallic material used in the manufacture of the latch piece37 is relatively more pliable than the metallic material used in themanufacture of the screw bolt 40. In view of these factors, the internalscrew threads of the tube 38 are adapted to be compressible whenengaging the external threads of the bolt 40 which provides frictionbetween the mating threads of the two elements to resist easy rotationof the latch piece 37 with respect to the bolt 40.

The three elements of the locking device 22, viz., the cover piece 34,the latch piece 37 and the screw bolt 40, are pre-assembled to form asingle unit for application to the wall from the interior side thereof.In the assembly the screw bolt 40 extends through the aperture 43 of thecover 34 with the head of the bolt being disposable within the recess35. The latch piece 39 is screwed on to the bolt at the threaded end anddrawn up on the bolt to a pre-determined position where it is held inplace by the friction provided between the mating threads as previouslydescribed.

In its application to the wall, the locking device 22 is firstpositioned over one of the four-way moulding joints with the locking bar39 in parallel relation to the groove slot 18 of the vertical member 12as shown in FIG. 4, the sides of slot 18 being shown in phantom lines.As clearly illustrated, the width dimension of the latch bar 39 issmaller than the width dimension of the groove slot 18 so that the barmay pass through the slot easily and be disposed within the main portionof groove 16. At the same time, the cover 34 may be adjusted so that thearms 36 are in alignment with the four mouldings 21 with the endportions of the arms being in position to overlap the respective endportions of the mouldings as showrr in FIGS. 1 and 3. The screw bolt 40is then rotated by means of a hand tool inserted in the recess 41 of thebolthead. Since the latch piece 37 is held in position on the bolt 40,as noted above, the latch bar 39 moves circularly with the rotation ofthe bolt until the end surfaces 42 of the latch bar contact the innersurfaces of the side walls 19 of the groove 16, the inner surfaces ofthe side walls serving as holding means to stop further rotation of thelatch bar. In this operation the latch bar rotates to form an angle ofrotation of about 45 included between its original position parallelwith the groove slot 18 and side walls 19 to the holding position asclearly shown in FIG. 4, the bar being shown in full lines in theoriginal position and in phantom lines in the holding position. In thisposition the end portions of the bar 39 underlie the flanges 20 therebyforming an interlocking engagement between the bar and the groove of themember.

Continued rotation of the screw bolt 40 moves the latch piece 37 on thebolt toward the cover 34 until the latch bar 39 contacts the innersurfaces of the groove flanges 20. These flange surfaces in combinationwith the respective inner surfaces of the side walls 19 serve as angularholding means for locking the latch bar within the groove 16. Ifnecessary, the bolt may be drawn up in the latch piece to provide atight fit between the arms 36 of the cover and the exposed surfaces ofthe mouldings 21 at the end portions where the arms overlap themouldings.

What is claimed is:

1. A moulding-joint locking device comprising a cover provided with acentral portion having a centrally disposed aperture and four radialarms, a screw bolt extending through said aperture having a head portionon the exposed side of said cover, and a latch bar having a. threadedaperture midway between the opposite ends thereof, said screw boltengaging said threaded aperture and at least partially rotating saidlatch bar relative to said radial arms.

2. The locking device defined in claim 1 wherein said. central portionof said cover is provided with a recess; for engagement with said headportion of said screw bolt 3. The locking device defined in claim 2wherein said cover and said latch bar are molded of non-metallicmaterial.

4. The locking device defined in claim 3 wherein said latch bar isprovided with a lug extending outwardly from one side thereof and saidthreaded aperture is disposed in said lug.

5. The locking device defined in claim 1 wherein said latch bar isprovided with a lug in which said threaded aperture is disposed and saidlug being of a material relatively more pliable than said screw bolt.

6. In a wall structure including vertical and horizontal holding membersintersecting and forming an angularly related intersecting point forwall panel mounting mouldings co-extensive with said vertical andhorizontal members forming a four-way joint at said intersecting point,a locking device comprising a cover disposed over said joint providedwith a central portion having a centrally disposed aperture and fourradial arms in vertical and horizontal alignment with said mouldings, ascrew bolt extending through said aperture having a head portiondisposed on the exposed side of said cover, a latch bar having anormally related lug extending outwardly from one side thereof midwaybetween the opposite ends of said bar, an internally threaded aperturein said lug, said screw bolt engaging said threaded aperture, said latchbar being disposed in adjacent parallel relation with one holdingmember, rotation of said screw bolt causing a partial turning movementof said latch bar thereby effecting interlocking engagement of said barwith said holding member and longitudinal movement thereof with respectto said bolt to secure the moulding ends to said members.

7. The combination claimed in claim 6 wherein said vertical andhorizontal holding members include formed grooves comprising spaced sidewalls and opposite flanges extending inwardly from said walls in rightangle relation thereto and the inner edges of said flanges being spacedto form a relatively narrow slot opening for said grooves.

8. The combination claimed in claim 7 wherein said cover and said latchbar of said locking device are molded of non-metallic material, saidcentral portion of said cover being formed with a recess for engagementwith said head portion of said screw bolt, said latch bar being formedwith a lug enxtending outwardly from one side of said bar, and saidthreaded aperture being disposed therein.

9. In a wall structure including a plurality of spaced posts, said postseach comprising a substantially hat shaped member, said hat shapedmember including a pair of spaced side walls and a connecting Web, saidweb having an elongated grooved portion extending substantiallycoextensive with said post, a flange on each side of said groovedportion, said flanges extending in a direction toward each other andhaving edges spaced apart respectively to provide an elongated slotopening into said grooved portion and being substantially coextensivetherewith, a wall panel, and fastening means connecting said wall panelto said posts comprising compressible means resiliently wedged into saidslot and grooved portions.

References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 376,926 1/1888Thuener. 417,094 12/ 1889 Sagendorph. 718,302 1/ 1903 Bartelstone.1,910,160 5/ 1933 Gorman. 2,382,456 8/1945 Urbain. 2,540,603 2/ 1951Urbain. 3,151,716 10/1964 Jansson.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

J. K. BELL, Assistant Examiner.

1. A MOULDING-JOINT LOCKING DEVICE COMPRISING A COVER PROVIDED WITH ACENTRAL PORTION HAVING A CENTRALLY DISPOSED APERTURE AND FOUR RADIALARMS, A SCREW BOLT EXTENDING THROUGH SAID APERTURE HAVING A HEAD PORTIONON THE EXPOSED SIDE OF SAID COVER, AND A LATCH BAR HAVING A THREADEDAPERTURE MIDWAY BETWEEN THE OPPOSITE ENDS THEREOF, SAID SCREW BOLTENGAGING SAID THREADED APERTURE AND AT LEAST PARTIALLY ROTATING SAIDLATCH BAR RELATIVE TO SAID RADIAL ARMS.